Forum Activity for @dusty

Congrats, Mark.  An honor long overdue.

We are excited about your win Mark! Thanks for representing our "Sweet Strings"!

Congratulations, Mark, on your win at Winfield!  

I've played n/d on 3, 4 and 5 string dulcimers and I've borrowed a 6-string once in a while.  I haven't felt the need to adapt my strumming except for one thing: how the number of strings (and how they're tuned) affects the sound balance between melody vs drones. 

If you're used to a typical 4-string setup (with a doubled melody course) then you're used to hearing 2 melody strings and 2 drones.  If you try a typical 6-string with three doubled courses, you'll have 2 melody strings and 4 drones.  Which might seem like too many drones. If the drones are (ahem) droning out the melody then you'll want to adjust your strum.  Angle the pick so you're strumming the melody string(s) harder than the drones.  Don't feel compelled to strum across all the strings at every strum, either.

If you're used to a 3-string, then maybe a 6-string won't be a big change.  There are a lot of possible 6-string setups and tunings.  I guess the only real answer is listen while you strum and adapt as you like. 

Ha!  I knew there was a good reason I was up in the middle of the night!

Great seeing Bubbles again!

Two lovely backup singers!  Delightful... and yet... terrifying.  You may become famous for this one.  Watch out. 

I have a middle string that rings. Could it be too thin of a string for that slot? I change from a 14 to 11. If it's moving in the slot, do I put something in the slot with it, or go back to the 14 size string and don't try tuning so high?

thanks

Loved it Dusty.

Ken

"The dulcimer whoops a sweet song."

Pretty KEEN, Patty...

Cool stuff, Patty!  All of us with that particular spelling are related somewhere down the line (or so I'm told).

I saw this on ED and thought I would share it here. I was going to post in the build discussions but I thought everyone would be interested in seeing this. Someone brought a vintage Virginia dulcimer to the Antiques Roadshow. It was appraised between $3,000 and $5,000.  It interesting to see what the appraiser says about this piece. Notice the fret across the sound hole on the fretboard. The appraiser's last name is Keane. Is that a coincidence or what? LOL

Here is the link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/18/richmond-va/appraisals/appalachian-dulcimer-ca-1880--201308A20

HA!  ~greatest video everrrrr, Dusty~  :)

Beach pics have a way of making you see what you don't wanna.  :(  This morning I did a 20-minute, PowerFit Harmony workout.

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And now presenting . . . for the first time anywhere (except when they made the recording) . . . Dusty and the Millennial Whoopers!

Paula, happy to look at it during the next jam,..., when is that exactly?  It almost sounds like your fretboard is warped.  If you have a good straight edge, usually a metal ruler 18" or longer will do, place it on the frets between the strings without touching the nut or saddle.  The straight edge should touch all of the frets.  See if the straightedge rocks on the center frets.  It so, the fret board may have bowed out and is causing your problem.  It doesn't sound like your fretboard bowed inward as you said the action is too high by the upper frets, not the middle.

Yes, Arnold did retire. However, I just had my 1978 dulcimer in there and Joe Konkoly did the work....superb!! He's also the Repair Shop Manager. Like I said earlier, the guys in the repair shop are the ONLY ones who touch my instruments. Joe said he and a couple others are now doing the dulcimer work. A dulcimer really isn't that complicated compared the other work they do. They know their stuff. It does cost money, but sometimes a little investment will ensure the work is done right and will result in you bring a very happy camper rather than a frustrated one.

Might be easiest to start over with a new Nut and Bridge.

Hey Ken,   It does have new strings.  I had a luthier try to set it up at a festival.   The strings are really high over the upper (meaning 7 and higher) frets so I asked him to set it up.  He lowered the bridge and then he said the strings started to hit the frets, so he then put a shim under the bridge.   Now the strings on the higher frets are way high again, and it sounds twangy when you play it...  ugh...   I could take it to Elderly's, I did hear the guy who did all the dulcimer work left.  Not just anyone can work on a dulcimer and do it well.  Not to mention they are not cheap.  However, it probably does need to see a luthier again... as I certainly could mess it up more!   :) 

Hey Matt, I may have you look at it at the next jam...  

Not currently, but my second dulcimer, back in the Dark Ages, was a six string.  Strumming takes a bit more 'work', but you can also get some subtle "brush strumming" using the pick on the first few strings and the edge of your little finger on the mid- bass drones as the hand rotates for the strum.

In general with doubled melody strings you have to make sure the noter is coming down dead-flat so that both melody strings are fretted equally rather than one fretted hard and the other one not so much.  That leads to buzzy notes.

Don't have a six, but I do have a five. Yes there is a little difference in technique with a dual melody string, how you adapt is personal. Just go for it James, you'll feel and hear the difference, not really better, just different!

Have a question and wasn't sure where to post this, so thought this would be a good as place as any to post it.  Any noter/drone 6 string dulcimer players among us?  Did you have to adapt your strumming techniques?  Any insights would be appreciated.

~that's awesome~

First things first.  Have you changed all the strings within living memory     If not, try that before anything else.

Nuts do not normally need to be raised.  As Matt sez, sometimes a fret needs to be lowered.

As Susie sez, a trip to Elderly would seem to be in your future.  

If the nut does need to be raised, you have to loosen all the strings and see if it will move under finger pressure.  If not, then you use a small (1/4" wooden dowel as a 'driver', along with a hammer, to tap the bridge sideways.  That's the easy way to pop a 'drop of glue' holding the bridge in place.

Just a thought, being you're so close to Elderly in Lansing. Given its age, the dulcimer may need more than bridge work. The nut and frets may also need work/adjustment. I recently took a 1978 dulcimer in for a complete set-up and it plays wonderfully now. I have been a customer of Elderly since 1974 and trust only them with any of my instruments. A little investment may be worth a lot, IMHO.

Paula,  a few questions first.  Are all the strings hitting the frets?  All the frets or just one or two?  Can you post a picture of the nut and the saddle?  If you are lucky, you just have a loose fret that needs to be reset.  I have had more luck replacing the saddle than replacing the nut.  If the nut is does not appear to be worn or broken, it is likely the problem is with the frets rather than the nut.  Matt

I have a 1979 dulcimer.  Very nice walnut by Richard and Denise Wilson, who lived in MIchigan.   The nut needs to be raised as the  

the strings are "twanging" (is that really a word?)  on the frets.  How hard is it to pop the nut out without breaking it.  I am guessing it has glue on it.. It seems pretty tight.  I am afraid it would be destroyed in the process.   I wish there was something I could put over the existing nut like a cap or something.. I tried putting little pieces of paper on top of each string and that didn't seem to help and I couldn't really keep them in well ... any suggestions?  

Beautiful sad sound with the bow on the instrument, thanks for sharing the video.

All those hours in the car listening to Katy Perry make you just the man to do it!

Oh my, Lisa. You know I have to post a video of that, don't you!

Dusty, you are a wonderful Dad.  I could only handle a 1:4 ratio of Millennial Whoop to Other without going crazy.  Although I do enjoy whooping along sometimes. 

Slate has a fun article about this: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/08/29/the_millennial_whoop_the_simple_wa_oh_ing_melodic_sequence_showing_up_all.html

Andy Samberg's parody video on that page is great fun, although some might be offended by the language (which is kinda the point).  Millennials mocking their own ;)

This could be our opportunity to break new ground in the folk tradition.  In Scarlet Town where I was born (wah-oh wah-oh) there was a fair maid dwellin' (wah-oh wah-oh wah-oh)...

Well I don't find the repetitive whoop as annoying as the synthesized vocals.  There's no good reason to put a voice through a synthesizer unless a) you want to sound like a robot, or b) you are tying to hide the faults in the voice.

And we shouldn't pretend that the music we love is less repetitive than today's commercial pop. Every song in the 50s had that same I - vi - IV - V chord progression (Earth Angel, Blue Moon, Goodnight Sweetheart, Heart and Soul, Put Your Head on My Shoulder, etc.).

And 90 percent of the folk tunes that we love are so repetitive that Butch Ross teaches a workshop entitled "If You Like One Folk Song You'll Like the Other One" in which he teaches the patterns in music that appear in nearly every tune.

But none of that refutes the fact that the whoop is pretty darn annoying.

I have an 11-year-old.  When we drive in the car, the music we listen to follows this pattern:  

1) millenial whoop song

2) old cajun fiddle tune

3) millenial whoop song

4) clawhammer banjo tune

5) millenial whoop song

6) acoustic blues tune

7) millenial whoop song

8) appalachian fiddle tune

The upside? Maybe she'll remember the Balfa Brothers or Son House or Jean Ritchie.  The downside? I can (sometimes) recognize the differences between Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.

Well pretty much the only time I actually hear current 'pop' music is when it's inflicted on me against my will-  while pumping gas, in an airport, waiting at the car dealership or doctor's office, in a restaurant.  So most of the time I don't have to hear any 'whoops'.  

You've got me afraid to watch, Strumelia!  Haha!  

Wow, that top is beautiful!  

I wish I knew something about thie maker!  Ohio's had lots of dulcimer makers doing really fine work.  :)

Doggone, I missed that!  Way cool.  Thanks for the post, John!  

Cool!

That's pretty cool! Thanks, John.

Steven